Chapter 4

Elena's POV

Morning sunlight poured into the hallway through the estate’s grand floor-to-ceiling windows, yet it did nothing to dispel the suffocating tension in the air.

I had just returned from a local specialty auto parts warehouse, still wearing my windbreaker faintly scented with motor oil. The second I stepped onto the second floor, my feet froze in place.

The once spacious and pristine hallway was now cluttered in total disarray.

Standing out the most was the solid walnut desk from my room—a piece of furniture that had been with me for eight years.

It was a massive desk, now crudely shoved sideways across the passage. Piled atop it were my scattered fluid mechanics drafts, engine design schematics, and several broken markers.

Julian had specially commissioned a master craftsman abroad to handmake it and fly it over when I was fifteen, simply because I had casually mentioned, *“I really want a huge desk to draw blueprints on.”*

And now, it was discarded outside my room like a pile of useless junk.

Dressed in a silk robe, Nora stood at the end of the hall like a lady of the manor, directing two housekeepers:

"Clear out everything in this room. The wallpaper needs to be changed to warm yellow. Yes, the bed goes too. I'm turning this into a nursery later. Hurry it up, Julian hates clutter."

The maids looked uncomfortable. When they saw me coming up, they immediately froze. "Miss Shaw..."

My eyes shifted from the desk to the blueprints scattered across the floor, covered in dirty footprints, and finally locked onto Nora’s face.

I didn't yell. I simply set down my toolbox, walking step by step toward the decorative console table Nora had carefully arranged in the hallway. A valuable antique porcelain vase sat there, holding fresh white roses that Nora had flown in just that morning.

With an expressionless face, I reached out and took hold of the vase’s neck.

"Elena! What do you think you're doing?! Julian just won that at an auction for me!" Nora’s face shifted instantly.

Before her words faded, I swept my arm.

*Crash!*

The priceless antique vase smashed violently against the hard marble floor, shattering into countless pieces. Water mingled with crushed petals and sharp porcelain, splattering across the floorboards. A jagged shard even nicked Nora’s ankle.

"Ah!" Nora shrieked, stumbling backward in panic.

"Touch my things one more time, and next time, it won't just be a vase that breaks." My voice wasn't loud, but it carried a terrifying edge of cold resolve that left Nora completely pale.

Once she caught her breath, Nora immediately pulled out her phone, dialing Julian’s number with a tearful, trembling voice.

Julian returned quickly.

Twenty minutes later, when he pushed open the glass double doors to the second-floor hallway, I was crouching beside the desk, my back to him, picking up the scattered, trampled blueprints one by one. My movements were mechanical, my slender frame looking fragile enough to snap in a strong gust of wind.

Julian frowned, taking in the disaster zone before him.

The shattered vase, Nora trembling in the corner, and the stubborn figure kneeling on the floor.

"Elena, haven't you had enough?!" Julian strode over, standing right behind me, his voice strained with barely suppressed fury.

My fingers paused. My fingertips were holding a half-finished intake cross-section diagram.

"I let it slide when you laid hands on her last time, and now you’re smashing things? Have I spoiled you so much over the years that you've forgotten every shred of decency?!"

Julian looked down at me, his lecture blistering and severe. "Nora is pregnant! Do you have any idea how much your tantrums could endanger her?!"

My entire body locked up.

The color drained from my knuckles as I gripped the paper, turning them a ghostly white. Slowly, I turned my head, lifting my face to look at Julian.

"She's... pregnant?" My voice was raspy, like coarse sandpaper, my eyes hollow with shock and total emptiness.

Julian glared down at me, his brow furrowed in cold irritation.

"You don't need to know the details. Just keep your hands off her things from now on. This is my final warning: this house doesn't belong to you alone. If you can't tolerate her being here, pack your things and find somewhere else to live."

I parted my lips, but my throat felt as if it were stuffed with broken glass, too raw to produce a sound.

I looked at Julian’s familiar, hardened features. This was the man who had once shielded me behind his back, telling the entire world that *“no one touches Elena.”* Now, for the sake of another woman’s "child," he was pointing at my face and telling me to get out.

Slowly, I pulled my gaze away, lowering my head.

"Okay," I whispered softly. Then, I went back to gathering the papers off the floor. One sheet, two sheets. My movements were steady, without the slightest tremble.

Watching my tranquil profile, Julian’s hands clenched into fists.

With a cold scoff, he turned toward Nora, gently helping her downstairs.

The moment Julian descended the steps, I gathered the final blueprint. I stood up, and glancing down casually, I caught Nora standing at the landing of the staircase.

She hadn't followed Julian down. She had paused there, looking back up at me with an icy smirk. The helpless, pitiful act had vanished entirely, replaced by pure malice.

Meeting my gaze, she deliberately placed her hand over her completely flat stomach. Then, exaggerating her lips, she silently mouthed two words:

*"It's fake."*

Standing amidst the wreckage of the hallway, I watched Nora turn and walk away.

I didn't cry.

When a person realizes that anger and grief are a complete waste of time, tears lose all meaning.

I stacked the blueprints neatly, brushed away the dust, and set them back in my room. Then, I pulled out my phone, opened my flight app, and changed my ticket—originally scheduled for next week—to depart in three days.